The Nature Of Us
by doctortardis101
Summary: The Tardis has landed in a new spot of interest. The Doctor and Clara are excited to look at the beautiful Planet Of the Shade. But when the whole planet is completely dull and colorless and destroyed The Doctor and Clara search around to find the threat. PLEASE GIVE FEEDBACK!
1. The Planet Of Shade

Chapter 1: The Planet Of Shade

"Doctor,where are we going?" Clara laughed as the Tardis spun uncontrollably around the space. The doctor looked up and smiled widely. He started to pull the lever 5 times and then suddenly the whole Tardis stopped as Clara and The Doctor flew to the back. Clara looked at The Doctor with a gleam of curiosity in her eye. "Go ahead, see where we are!" The Doctor said urging for Clara to go outside. Clara smiled and then rushed to the door. She looked behind her at The Doctor and then opened the door. She walked out to see a dull gray planet with falling leaves off of dead trees and no sign of life anywhere. "Doctor where have you taken me?" Clara asks. This wasn't the exact picture she had in her mind of the planet. She was inside a dead forest. No color except gray and dark brown of the dried leaves were painted across the landscape. Every step she took she felt as though she could hear a faint scream. The Doctor popped his head out of the door and looked around. His face seemed dimmed. He looked at Clara with a sense of despair. He walked back into the Tardis and looked at the screen. Yes, there it was, they were at the Planet Of Shade but what happened to it? He ran back outside. "Is anyone there?" He shouted. Silence followed. The Doctor bent down and felt the rotten leaves. At first he looked upset but then he started to look confused. He took the leaf and put it next to his ear. 'Does he hear the screaming too?' Clara thought to herself while seeing The Doctor examine the dead leaf. "What happened to you?" The Doctor whispered as if he was talking to the leaf. "Who did this to you?" Clara looked at The Doctor in disbelief. "Are you talking to a leaf?" Clara asked holding in a laugh. The Doctor looked up at her, his face offended. "Yes, I speak leaf." At this point Clara couldn't help but laugh. "You speak leaf?" She said laughing so hard everything in the forest must have heard. The Doctor ignored her as he continued to look at the characteristics the leaf in front of him had. The leaf was lifeless with a musty color with no signs whatsoever of life, but still The Doctor could hear the screaming coming from the leaf as if it was being tortured. Suddenly to screaming became louder and louder and then silence. Not one word from the leaf. The Doctor looked around the forest. Everything was completely quiet. Not even a small sound coming from anything. As if they were given a signal to stop every sound. Clara had noticed that The Doctor was looking strange. "Doctor, what is it?" Clara asked with concern in her voice. The Doctor looked up straight at her. "Someone else is here."


	2. The Fox and His Prey

Chapter 2: The Fox and His Prey

"What do you mean someone else is here?" Clara asked sounding alarmed. "Who has been following us?" The Doctor put his finger to his mouth which indicated to Clara to lower her voice. Still filled with fear Clara asked a bit quieter "Is there someone who is tracking us Doctor, are we safe?" The Doctor spoke to Clara with annoyance in his voice "Clara we are being followed and we are being tracked, but asking questions about it isn't going to make anything better is it?" Clara nodded her head although she still felt very unsafe. The Doctor kept his eye out for any sign of movement to lead him to the mysterious incomer. "Clara stop breathing!" The Doctor said irritated. Clara looked at The Doctor in disbelief. 'Stop breathing, how am I suppose to stop breathing?' She thought as she watched The Doctor pull out his sonic screwdriver. He scanned it around the forest. He looked at the results. "Clara, stay close" The Doctor said in a nervous tone as Clara started to walk toward him in a worried way. The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver ready for action, but no one came. But still The Doctor and Clara stayed close together. "Doctor" Clara whispered under her breath. "Where is it?" The Doctor looked around jerking his head from North to South to East and West. 'Where is it?' He thought to himself as he started to release the grip on the sonic screwdriver a bit. After about five minutes of turning in all directions The Doctor decided that there was nothing there. "Does that mean that no one is following us?" Clara asked with a bit of relief in her voice. The Doctor looked at her and smiled. "A fox never stops hunting his prey Clara." This made Clara tense up, she thought of what he had just said. He was right, no one just gives up, never, she and The Doctor were in danger, whether they liked it or not. Looking at Clara's expression The Doctor realized what he had just said might have left Clara feeling uncomfortable so quickly apologized. "Sorry Clara." The Doctor said and put an arm around her. She smiled but still couldn't quite get the idea out of her head that the prey is part of the food chain, they have to die. Suddenly The Doctor jumped up. Something made a noise,something made a very slight noise. "Doctor, I didn't hear anything." Clara said in a convincing tone. The Doctor hesitated. He was sure he heard something. It was the slightest noise. "I thought...I thought...I heard…" The Doctor trailed off. He sat down next to Clara on the floor. "Thought you heard what?" The Doctor looked at her with a very serious expression on his face. "I thought I heard….someone singing."


	3. The Song Of The Leaves

Chapter 3: The Song Of The Leaves

"Singing?" Clara asked to just make sure she hadn't heard him wrong. He looked at her making her realize he wasn't joking. 'Who would be singing?' Clara thought. "Doctor, why would the thing that is hunting us down give us a hint that it is close, it doesn't sound very professional." The Doctor looked at her like she said something wrong. "Being a murderer of a planet, especially this beautiful planet is not professional Clara, these people do not care about the rules of the game, they are the cheaters in chess, they are the villains against the heros, they are the evil against the good, and they don't care one bit of the way to perform when attacking, because either way they are going to get what they want." The Doctor retorted back to Clara. Clara looked at The Doctor in amazement, he was never gotten so dramatic about a joke before. She was quite upset with the way she had just been treated by The Doctor. She concentrated on him waiting for him to turn around so she could give him the death stare but he wouldn't turn around. "Doctor?" Clara questioned. "Do you hear it?" The Doctor replied. 'Hear what?' Clara thought. But instead she tried to listen more carefully to see if she could hear the same sound as he was hearing. All Clara could hear was complete silence. But then she forced herself to find the sounds of the music that The Doctor could hear so easily. Suddenly she could hear a soft voice singing a song. Quickly she ran to pick up a leaf and put it next to her ear. The song was now clear in a little girls voice. Clara dropped the leaf in shock. 'Leaves can sing?' She thought to herself. She went and picked up another leaf. This one to was singing a song but in an older man's voice. Clara put the leaf closer to her ear. "We are the leaves of the forest, voice sweet, song strong, we are the leaves of the forest, we are where we belong…" The leaf sang. "I can hear them!" Clara exclaimed. The Doctor turned to her. "Tardis translation, let's you understand other languages and speak the language too, it just took longer today." The Doctor said in a serious and dull voice. "Well, you can sound more happy about it." Clara laughed. The Doctor shook his head no. At this Clara realized something was wrong, very wrong. "What is it?" she asked half of her not wanting to know. "What is your leaf singing?" The Doctor asked. Clara put the leaf closer to her ear and recited "We are the leaves of the forest, voice sweet, song strong, we are the leaves of the forest, we are where we belong." At this The Doctor shouted at Clara. "DROP THE LEAF!" But she couldn't. "But, Doctor the sound is so sweet," All the color drained out of The Doctor's face. "DROP IT!" "DROP IT NOW!" Clara snapped back to reality and dropped the leaf. But something odd happened, instead of the leaf falling it clinging onto Clara's hand.


	4. The Blood Of The Leaves

Chapter 4: Blood of the leaves

"Clara, let go of the leaf!" The Doctor screamed. 'I don't understand.' Clara thought. She shook her hand over and over again trying to release the leaf that now was pressed against her skin off. "DROP IT!" "I'm trying Doctor, it's not coming off!" The Doctor looked at her impatiently. Then he processed what she had said. The leaf is sticking to her. At this The Doctor rushed over to Clara's hand with the leaf and started to tug at it. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed the tip at the leaf. As soon as he pressed the button Clara made a small yelp. The leaf fell to the ground but instead of the brown musty color it was before it was now a perfect green leaf that would grow during the summer time. Clara looked at her palm where the leaf had been. There was a tiny mark that looked as though they were teeth marks. Blood was dripping from where the mark was placed. The Doctor quickly examined the bite. His face turned solid and pointed his sonic at the mark. As he was shown the results he cautiously told Clara "Stay away from the leaves." She couldn't help but look at her palm. "Doctor, will it be okay?" "Yes" He replied while watching where he stepped so that he didn't bump into the thousands of leaves that were scattered across the forest floor. "They bite?" Clara wondered out loud. The Doctor didn't have to answer that question because it was already quite obvious that they do. They worked their way through the forest calling out occasionally "Is someone there?" No one replied every time they called out. Clara kept her face concentrated on the bite made by the leaf. Color had drained out of the part of her palm where she was bitten. The bite still caused a bit of pain for Clara as they strolled deeper and deeper into the forest. She took the time to examine The Doctor's hand. She saw that he too had a bite mark leaf size in the middle of his palm. "You could have told me you got bit too." Clara said. The Doctor stopped and looked at his palm for a second, then continued on. "Does it hurt?" Clara asked now trying to create conversation between the two of them. He seemed to be ignoring her but Clara did seem to sense that the bite was bothering him a little bit. The Doctor was thinking very hard of why the leaves would be vicious like that. The song drew both Clara and himself to pick up the leaves, why would the friendliest life forms on the planet try to bite other forms for blood? The Doctor concentrated on every moment they had since they walked out of the Tardis. He remembered that there was someone tracking them down, at first it seemed right, the leaves were tracking them, but then he remembered that the results showed another body form near them. They were still being followed.


	5. The Meeting Of Mother

Chapter 5: The Meeting Of The Mother

"Clara, stay behind me." The Doctor whispered suddenly. Clara quickly shuffled her feet and positioned herself right behind The Doctor. "What is it?" She asked but she could already feel that they were being followed. "Is it the leaves?" "No" The Doctor replied. This made Clara stiff. They looked from side to side knowing any minute someone could come from anywhere. Suddenly there was a rustle in the bush towards the east. Out came a lady in a a evergreen dress that covered her ankles. Her skin as dark as the moss on the trees. Her eyes glistening blue making her one of the most beautiful people Clara had ever seen. She wore a leaf piece on the tip of her head and her posture was nothing but perfect. Her light green lips matched perfectly with the rest of her outfit. She gracefully looked at both of them. The Doctor bent down on his knee and bowed. Clara not knowing who she was did the same. "No need Doctor, this is not the time for formality." The girl spoke. "So you know Mother, you know about the leaves?" Mother! Clara looked at the Doctor in disbelief. He shot a look back to her sending the message it was not his mother. "Doctor, the leaves have been peaceful since the beginning of time itself, and no one knows that better than me, something has changed in the leaves. Something horrid has happened to them." The lady spoke in a rushed voice. The Doctor grabbed Clara's palm and showed it to the girl. She looked at The Doctor then she pulled out her own palm and revealed a symbol. It looked like a leaf with the sun rising behind it. But if you looked closely there was a bite from a leaf in the center of the Doctor showed his palm also showing that he himself had a mark. "We have all been bitten." Clara said in a worried tone. The lady looked at her but then behind her. "Crock come I won't hurt you for running from the pack." The lady spoke. Clara caught The Doctor's eye and mouthed 'Who is she talking about and too?' The Doctor looked at the direction Mother was looking. There was a tree. Just a normal tree. But...it was alive! No tree in the forest was alive because of the vicious leaves but this one glistened with life. The lady spoke again "Crock, come. That is an order." The tree seemed to tilt towards Mother. "Now." Mother said sternly. The tree began to fall apart, the leaves forming into what seemed to be a body. The trunk looked as though it was turning into a face. The wood was starting to pop out to create arms and legs, and out of the blue a boy appeared with leaf armor. He looked about 15 years old and his face was covered in scars and bites from leaves. He looked at Mother and bowed. He then saw The Doctor and Clara. He limped over to shake their hand. He grabbed The Doctor's hand and shook it firmly. "Hello, my name is The Doctor." The boy looked at him with tears in his eyes. "Where were you when we needed you?"


End file.
